The Fruit of Knowledge
by PheobeColelovers
Summary: Sometimes you do get everything you ever dreamed of...


_**A happy little story that takes place in the future after the series finale. It's Coop/Pheobe. Yes, be shocked. There is no Cole in my story though I still have not given up on their love and will continue on with my many other fics depicting the love between Pheobe and Cole.**_

**The Fruit of Knowledge**

"Do you have the candles... and the video camera?" Pheobe asked her husband as she finished putting shoes on their birthday girl. "Piper finished the cake. She's on the way to the park now and Paige is already there with the rest of the family."

"Are the girls ready?" Coop asked as he walked down the hallway with the things she had asked about.

"Yeah except little Gracie here needs to be changed," she indicated to their youngest daughter as he walked into the room. "Can you put the kids in the car while I change her?"

"Yep," he gladly agreed as he leant in to give her a quick peck on the lips before she left the room with the five month old infant. "Faith, Hope, let's go."

Picking up Patience, who was as of this day two, he tossed her gently into the air and she giggled happily at her daddy as her two older sisters walked into the room.

"Coop, make sure you have everything. We're already late," Pheobe called from Grace's nursery.

"We have everything, don't we Hope?" Coop smiled when their eight year old daughter answered her mother. "See, everything's under control."

"Well, just make sure you have batteries this time. We don't want to relive the ballet recital fiasco all over again," Pheobe called again, wanting the day to be perfect.

"We have the batteries, Mommy," Hope screamed a little too loudly.

" Now, let's go get in the car before Mommy turns us all into toads," Coop encouraged the girls and laughed when six year old Faith giggled in response to his comment.

"Mommy wouldn't turn me into a toad cuz I'm her favorite," Faith boasted, smiling.

"Uh, uh. I am. I'm her ladybug," Hope argued with her younger sister.

"All of you better get your little ladybug butts in the car," Pheobe said as she walked into the room, bouncing a cooing Grace. "Cuz I know of some little girls who might miss out on auntie Piper's cake if we don't get there soon."

This immediately made both girls' eyes bulge and they ran for the door as their parents followed carrying their younger siblings.

"Let's go!" Faith ordered as she held the door open for the rest of the family.

"Yes ma'am," Coop smiled to his daughter as he walked out of the house they had purchased a little over a year ago when Grace's presence had been discovered and they had decided that their present accommodations just wouldn't be big enough for four little ladybugs.

"Mommy," Hope questioned when the family was secure in the car and on their way to the park. "Auntie Piper wouldn't give away all the cake before we get there cuz it's Patience's birthday."

"I guess not," Coop answered for his wife as she laughed at how intelligent their young daughter was. "Seems we've got a very smart little ladybug on our hands."

"Yep," Pheobe agreed as she looked back at all four of her girls and marveled at their beauty. "She gets it from you," she added as she leaned over and kissed her husband who glanced at her for a second before returning his focus to the road before him.

"Auntie Piper! Time for cake, right?" Hope asked as she ran in front of her parents and sisters to reach the rest of the family at the park.

"Almost. Why don't you go play with Prue and we'll call you when its time," Piper proposed and as she watched her niece run to where her daughter was playing, knew that it would be hours before the girls would allow themselves to be pried from each other's sides.

They shared a special friendship. Hope and Prue were only a week apart in age and this tended to make them inseparable. They were so alike even though Prue was the youngest in her family and Hope was the oldest. Both were shyer than their respected siblings and tended to be more laid back and calm than the rest of the family.

"Hey, Piper. That cake looks amazing. Doesn't it, Patience? I bet you just can't wait to get it all over you, huh?" Pheobe asked the toddler in her arms and soon got her answer.

"My cake," Patience happily stated as she reached her small hands out in a effort gain access to the big chocolate cake in front of her.

"Yes, it is," Paige said in a baby voice as she walked over to her sisters and took the small girl from her mother's arms and began to bounce her on her hip. "Happy birthday!"

"Hey, Paige, where are the guys?" Pheobe asked as she spotted Prue and Hope playing along with Faith and Paige's twins, Kaylie and Kylie.

"Henry and Leo are on the field playing football with Wyatt, Chris, and little Henry," Paige answered realizing that her little Henry wasn't all that little anymore as she resumed playing with the toddler she held in her arms.

"Go on," Pheobe told her husband as she saw a spark in his eyes and took Gracie from her father's embrace.

"Are you sure? I'm fine here with you and the girls," he hesitantly said as he handed over the diaper bag and placed the presents he had been carrying on the table.

"Go play football with the guys," she encouraged him and he quickly but passionately kissed her before he walked out of sight of the girls.

"Poor guy. Stuck in a house full of girls," Pheobe said with a smile as she gently rocked the quiet infant in her arms. "Need any help, Piper?"

"Nope. It's all done," Piper said as she reached out her arms for Pheobe to hand over the small girl.

Both Piper and Paige knew all too well that they would never experience the baby thing again. They were both finished. Piper was happy with her three children and Paige had swore that she would never have another child after giving birth to twins, so they knew that Patience and Gracie were probably the last babies of the family and this made them attach themselves even more to the two small children.

"Girls, come on," Piper called out to the children playing. "Time to sing to the birthday girl."

"I'll go get the boys," Paige offered as she placed the birthday girl back in her mother's arms.

Within a minute, the whole family was gathered around the cake with a big "2" candle lit and all began to sing the traditional birthday song though it was clear that there was one thing on every child's mind: Cake.

"Blow out the candles, Patience," The family encouraged and Coop showed her how to and almost blew out the candle himself.

"Can I do it?" Kylie asked, leaning in even closer to the cake.

"No, I want to," Kaylie argued as she, too, pushed herself closer to the cake.

"No," Paige scolded her children. "You can blow out the candles on your birthday. Today is Patience's."

Henry scooped both girls into his arms and waited for the toddler to blow out her own candles and to everyone's amazement, Patience was able to on her own in one small blow and giggled happily when everyone clapped and cheered.

"I want a humongous piece," Faith said as she held out her arms as far as they would go to show just how big the piece had to be.

"That's a really big piece. You think you could eat all that?" Leo asked her with a grin on his face.

"Yep," she simply replied as the cake was being passed out.

"She couldn't eat a piece that big," Wyatt disagreed as he began to devour his own piece of cake, but he was poked in the side by his brother and ended the argument before it began.

An hour later, the presents had been opened, the mess had been cleaned up and the children were playing again, leaving the adults to talk.

Pheobe looked to her husband for confirmation and when she felt she received it, she turned to face her sisters and their respected spouses and began to speak.

"I've sorta got some news," she began as Coop wrapped his arms her and she looked over at Grace asleep in her carseat and Patience happily sitting in Leo's arms. "We've sorta got some news," she corrected herself. All eyes were on them now. It was time to tell them. "I'm pregnant."

Everyone sat speechless as they looked at the couple and to their youngest daughter. Everyone was quiet for what seemed like forever and Pheobe felt she would burst if someone didn't speak, so thankfully Piper began.

"Grace is only five months old. How did this happen?" she looked as the couple blushed. "Well, I know how this happened, but how could you let this happen. You just had Grace."

"I don't what to tell you. It just happened. And when you're married to Love, what else could you expect," Pheobe shrugged as she answered and Coop leaned down and placed a kiss in her hair.

They hadn't planned on this baby, but that didn't mean that she or he wasn't already loved by both mother and father and wanted. They would love this new addition just as they loved their other children. The only child they had planned was Hope and she would have been enough to make Pheobe feel complete or so she had thought, but once the next child had arrived and so on, she couldn't imagine what their lives would have been like if they had stopped having kids when Hope was born. Their children were unexpected miracles, reminders of their love and the best part of their lives, their love.

Congratulations," Paige smiled at the couple, glad that there would be another baby in the family that she could smother with affection.

"Yeah, Congratulations" Henry said as he walked over to Coop and slapped him on the back. "Maybe it'll be a son this time."

**9 Months Later**

Pheobe watched the movements of the bundle she held in her arms and was amazed yet again by the whole process. She stared into his newly opened eyes and could have sworn that she saw a flicker of blue in the oceans of sparkling brown that filled them as he blinked and yawned, but she quickly dismissed the thought, even though she was sure it was this reason that she settled on this name for him.

"What's his name?" Hope asked as she held Gracie to allow her to look over the hospital bed and see her new baby brother.

"This is Benjamin Daniel Halliwell," Pheobe answered her daughter and motioned to her husband who sat beside of her holding another dark haired bundle, "and that is Nicholas Gabriel Halliwell."

The girls watched their younger brothers and Pheobe was happy just to lay back and take in the beautiful scene. Faith and Patience sat in their places at the foot of the hospital bed and Grace had been placed at her side and was now pointing and giggling at the two small boys as Hope watched every little move they made.

"I guess Prue was right," Pheobe stated as she remembered that night years ago when her eldest sister had promised her that she would be the mother of at least five kids and here she was with six and she couldn't be any happier. She looked at her husband who snuggled closer to her and wiped a stray hair from her eyes. "And so was the apple peel," she quietly added.

She didn't need to talk about it. It was enough for her just to realize it. _'The name of your true love begins with C' _Before this moment, it had hurt too much to think back but she realized now that the apple had been right all along. She had believed it to mean that her life was meant to be with Cole, and even though she would always hold him in her heart, she knew by looking at her husband and children, that the apple peel had foretold this marriage, this life, and she was once again filled with the magic that comes with believing in fairy tales and happy endings.

_**So, tell me what ya thing. It was just a happy little story. Hope ya enjoyed it. Please drop a review.**_


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